27 August 2015, Thursday
Our 40% chance of thunderstorms parked itself over our campsite from midnight
until 3 am. Winds were 30+ mph with gusts to the mid-50’s and no
trees to shelter us. Our REI quarterdome shook and rattled through
the storm. At times I felt as if we were in a little bubble being
tossed on the ocean. Sometimes the windward side of the tent (my
side) almost flattened in the gale, but it always sprung back. We
could hear a few other people moving about and the sound of car doors
slamming as people took refuge in their cars. I didn’t get much sleep, but our tent survived intact!
By morning all is quiet and the tent is already dry. There are
mountain bluebirds flying about. We eat our breakfast, pack up and
explore Badlands NP. We drive along Sage Creek Rim Road, a gravel road, where there are fewer tourists,amazing views, bison in the distance and even a prairie dog town. We get out of the car to watch the prairie dogs for awhile. They are really cute, especially when they stand atop their burrows and chirp at each other.
Now we are on the main road again, heading for Rapid City, SD and hoping to
find a NF campsite for tonight and tomorrow night so we can explore
the Custer area a bit. We stop at the visitor center in Rapid City, SD.
The young woman at the desk assures us there will be plenty of
camping spots at Custer State Park. It’s first come, first served. We head
for Sylvan Lake which is her favorite site.
The road leads over Needles Highway. It’s a curvy, steep road with few
guardrails and narrow tunnels cut through the rock. Only one car at a
time can pass through. The landscape looks as if it were created by a
fantasy writer.
We finally arrive at Sylvan Lake where we are informed that all sites in
the park are reservation only. O calls the 800 number. Anastasia at the other end of the line informs him that Sylvan Lake is booked but Center Lake has open
“walk-in” tent sites. She can give us a site right on the lake.
We take it for two nights. The workers at Sylvan Lake tell us that
Center Lake is nice, but not as nice as Sylvan Lake.
Off we go. We are soon at Center Lake. Unlike Sylvan Lake where the
campsites are close together and clustered in the woods above the
lake, out of site of its waters, our campsite at Center Lake is indeed
right on the water. It is beautiful, with lodgepole pines and a
granite rock rising straight out of the lake just offshore from our
tent site. It’s so pretty we contemplate extending our stay an extra
night.
While we are setting up camp we hear a screeching sort of bird call in the
tall pines above. I can’t see the bird. As I watch the water of the
lake, a large brown owl swoops down out of the tree above me and
lands on another pine tree on the other side of the small stream which flows by our
campsite and on into the lake. We have a clear view of his large golden
eyes!
The owl stays in the pine tree as we cook and eat our dinner. We point him
out to our new neighbors who are also setting up camp. As we watch, the owl does
something between a fall and a pounce out of the tree and onto the
ground. He sits there blinking for awhile looking almost cat-like. To
me, he appears a bit surprised to be on the ground. After several
minutes he soars off into more distant trees.
A short time later, we hear louder screeches above us, similar to the ones we
heard earlier. After some searching O spots an even larger owl in the
pine branches overhead. We can hear the answering calls off in the
distance. The larger owl swoops off in the direction of the calls. My theory: we have just witnessed Mom and a somewhat klutzy baby owl.
We tidy up camp and decide to drive the wildlife loop in the park. We pass
white tailed deer, pronghorns, and bison. One of the bison is
munching grass right next to the road. He is as tall as Jazz. I can
barely fit him into my camera as we slowly drive by. We return to our
campsite after dark, passing another roadside bison as we go, his
eyes glowing in the headlights with just a spooky outline of horns
and head in the dark.
